The New England Newspaper and Press Association recognized The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting.with two Publick Occurrences Awards for its expose called, “Rx for Theft,” and its profile of governor Paul LePage.

Chicago elected its first African-American woman and openly gay mayor on April 2, and the date also marked the culmination of Chi.vote, a hugely successful collaborative journalism project geared toward educating voters about the municipal elections. Fernando Diaz, editor of The Chicago Reporter, called the project a “fantastic” success. “We did something together that we’d never done before, and hadn’t been done in Chicago,” he said, adding that users had an overwhelmingly positive experience. The Better Government Association (BGA), The Chicago Reporter and Block Club Chicago, all INN Amplify members, were also founding members of Chi.vote, along with The Daily Line and The TRiiBE. Contributors included Chalkbeat Chicago and City Bureau, also INN Amplify members.

It was a story waiting too long for public attention: Some staff members at a rural facility housing young people with behavioral issues had physically, sexually and psychologically abused the children. South Dakota News Watch uncovered the story in June — resulting in the governor ordering an overhaul of the inspection processes for all youth treatment facilities in the state. The "Treatment or Trauma?" series exposed the harsh physical restraints on the residents that some employees of the facility regularly used — resulting in facial rug burns, black eyes, bloody noses, bruising and injured limbs. The story relied on a dozen on-the-record interviews and documents hard to obtain in a state with weak public records laws.

Six more leaders selected for LEAP Initiative to advance strategy and scale for nonprofit newsrooms

LOS ANGELES — The Institute for Nonprofit News announces the spring class of the LEAP initiative, an executive program designed to help senior leaders of established nonprofit news organizations navigate strategic challenges to advance their growth and impact. The six experienced executives selected for the spring class will work together to address their strategic challenges with support and guidance from INN as well as subject-matter experts and business coaches. The participants for the Spring 2018 session are:

The cohort met June 12 for their first meeting in Orlando, Fla. in advance of INN's annual conference, INN Days 2018, where they participated in business leadership workshops alongside INN's Emerging Leaders Council and major gifts training programs. Members also attended the conference. Led by INN Director of Programs and Services Fran Scarlett, the LEAP Initiative is a leadership program designed to help senior managers of well-established nonprofit news organizations seeking to update or change strategy or move to the next level of growth.

Launched in 2009, Civil Eats is the leading daily media source for providing original content and commentary to inform critical thought about the American food system. By focusing on fair, balanced, high-quality journalism, Civil Eats breaks important news, educates leaders and policymakers, influences the national conversation about food, and serves as an invaluable resource for broader mainstream media. For its first four years, Civil Eats operated with no funding and as a labor of love. Now in its ninth year, Civil Eats has achieved significant impact and reach: It raised an unprecedented $100,000 via Kickstarter in 2013 and was named Publication of the Year in 2014 by the James Beard Foundation, all with very limited resources. Civil Eats’ innovative media model reaches millions more through content partnerships with high-profile print and online publications, including TIME, The Atlantic, Slate, Salon, Yahoo!, Food & Wine, Public Radio International, PBS/ITVS, New York Magazine, Eater, Quartz, and Maplight.

The Conversation is a nonprofit news organization whose mission is to provide the public with credible, evidence-based journalism by unlocking ideas and research from academia. Stories range from politics to science to parenting, from the largest of trends to why paper cuts hurt.

A stunning nine independent, nonprofit newsrooms from INN's membership have been named as finalists in this year's Online News Association Awards, a performance almost as notable as INN members' dominance of the most recent round of grants from the Ethics and Excellence In Journalism Foundation.

LOS ANGELES — Dec. 11, 2017 — Members of the Institute for Nonprofit News can receive discounted charity registration and compliance services under a new partnership between INN and Charity Compliance Solutions announced Monday. Nonprofit news organizations are required to register in any of 41 states if they actively solicit donations or have donors residing in those states. As public support grows for nonprofit news organizations, those expanding fundraising through email and other campaigns often need to register in multiple states.. The growth of online donations has made compliance even more of a challenge, and many nonprofits find it more cost- and time-effective to work with a charity registration firm than handle their own registrations throughout the year.

Twenty fellows participating in the Emma L. Bowen Foundation for Minority Interests in Media program for students of color are helping Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) members, along with INN, this summer, as part of a new partnership.

This is the first time the foundation placed fellows who are college students and recent college graduates from its summer fellowship program inside nonprofit news organizations for eight-week internships focused on new media business, technology and editorial.

Midwest Energy News launched in 2010 and is a nonprofit news site dedicated to keeping stakeholders, policymakers, and citizens informed of the important changes taking place as the Midwest shifts from fossil fuels to a clean energy system.

The board of the Vermont Journalism Trust supports the Investigative News Network's statement of "disappointment and concern" at the Wisconsin State Legislature's maneuvers, which appear to be designed to thwart an independent and highly respected news organization.

Below are five lessons from MoJo’s experiences that other nonprofit investigative newsrooms can adapt and use. These tips stem from the INN/Shorenstein Center case study on Mother Jones, published Dec. 9, 2019. One: Treat your audience like your public board. By sharing strategic information like company financials and plans for the future, Mother Jones opened up a new relationship with its audience.

For independent and nonprofit media, news that Facebook overhauled its News Feed to focus on what friends and family share is clarifying. I don’t mean that it’s good. In fact, it’s likely to diminish the reach of important news. A company that could be a global force for good in quality news and the civic engagement around is instead backing away from that opportunity or responsibility, however you look at it. But there are benefits to clarity for publishers, and for nonprofit news publishers in particular.

Across America over the last year, reporters in nonprofit newsrooms broke thousands of stories while pursuing journalism in the public interest. Here are some of the best from the 120 member newsrooms of INN: Fact-based and community-focused. Transparent and non-partisan. Reporting for you. Reporting by InDepthNH.org in New Hampshire helped free a man who was locked up for seven years even though he wasn't convicted of a crime — with most of those years spent in the state prison's psychiatric unit.